Into the Ring

I’ve been working non-stop on or with xAPI in some way or another since July 29, 2009. It’s been over 8 years since I rode roller coasters with friends and we had an idea about how technology could be different. Two weeks ago, the US Department of Defense issued its formal instruction making xAPI the go-to standard for learning and human capital data. 

In 2015, Megan Bowe and I founded the Data Interoperability Standards Consortium, after three solid years working together to support the community. We kickstarted a formal industry stewardship and governance of xAPI (thanks to ADL's BAA program). Within twelve months, we established conformance requirements, a recommended a path toward software certification and a modern and scalable approach to establishing xAPI Profiles. Last month, a new IEEE effort formed to support xAPI with over 160 participants representing over 60 organizations around the world. With Megan, for the past five years, we’ve managed to make advancing xAPI core to our professional work, and devoted much of our personal lives to that end. 

With Megan, I feel like I’ve seen everything we've done in the spec and standards world unfold for the betterment of all. xAPI will succeed; the community and industry around it will thrive as the industry asserts stewardship over xAPI. 

That's how I know it is time I evolved the Pokémon that is my career. 

So, to clean the slate, today DISC is closing its metaphorical doors. Today, MakingBetter, the consultancy I’ve shared with Megan Bowe, is going dormant; xAPI Camps (like the one this week at DevLearn) and other labors of love being its only loosely planned activities. This chapter has come to its close. 

A new chapter begins, and it's refreshing and exciting.

I am joining the search and discovery team at Elsevier, just three stops away in Center City (what people outside of Philly would call “downtown”). In a world that’s currently difficult to differentiate between what’s real and what’s fake, Elsevier is trusted and counted on as a source of truth due to their evidence-based content. The way the world practices medicine relies on the information Elsevier publishes (Grey’s Anatomy, The Cell, The Lancet, anyone?). 

Elsevier’s strategy is focused on data and analytics. As the fourth largest data provider in the world (behind Google, China Mobile and Bloomberg) the sheer amount of data is… well, it’s a lot to play with. I’m stoked for the opportunity to produce data-driven products that help medical professionals make critical decisions that make more lives better. I’m energized by the challenges to come with producing products that people want and need. It’s an exciting time for Elsevier as a company. It’s an exciting time for me.

I’m stoked to help shape their story, to help develop its capacity for delivering insights to the different stakeholders in learning and performance. But mostly, I’m psyched to join an amazing team at a company that is focused on delivering evidence-based, trusted, vital information to the people we all trust to heal us (and, you know, save our lives). There’s such great talent among the product managers, designers, developers and leadership at Elsevier. I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with and learn from them!